Art and artists

Jill Aldersley  lived and worked in Cumbria since 1965 till she passed away on 21st October 2007.  She was born in London during the war, of Yorkshire ancestry, but as the family moved back north in 1946, her early childhood memories are of living in a 17th Century millstone grit farmhouse, 1100ft up on Holme Moss through the 1947 winter. This environment must have contributed to her early love of the wild countryside.

They moved to Longridge, near Preston, when she was six, and there she grew up, educated at Woodlands School, and then Penwortham Girls Grammar School.  Her father was a talented sculptor himself (as well as a water-engineer) and encouraged her to study at the Harris College School of Art.  There she gained her N.D.D. in Oil Painting and Lithography, followed by A.T.C. at Manchester.  

Walking & climbing

Being a keen rock-climber and fell-walker, having enjoyed family holidays in the Lake District from an early age with her hill-loving parents (mainly Rosthwaite, then Wasdale Head), she then came to teach Art at the newly opened Beacon Hill School, Aspatria. until 1967.  

Then she took the opportunity of a winter-let in Langdale to move into the heart of the Lake District, working part time at Ambleside Studio Pottery for 14 years, meanwhile developing her own painting. She was fortunate enough to live in Kentmere for a couple of years, before moving in to Ambleside itself in 1970.

Meeting up with fellow artist there, she was a founder member of Ambleside and District Art Society, and also joined Kendal Art Society, of which was President. She was also a member of the Lake Artists Society.

Learning much from fellow members, such as Syd Prentice and Billy Dodd, with whom she was lucky to go out painting, and from visiting demonstrators such as Edward Wesson, she soon converted to watercolours, and still revels in its translucency, and its capacity to convey the subtleties of mood in this ever changing landscape.

Travelling far

Jill painted farther a-field as well, regularly on the Isles of Skye and Eigg, and less frequently in the Alps and Himalayas and other wild areas.  While concentrating mainly on landscape, she enjoyed tackling many other subjects, including flowers and wildlife.

Her work was shown in the various Society Exhibitions, and in many galleries throughout the Lakes, Skye and Eigg, and she often had her own shows.

Words and pictures courtesy of Jill Alsersley.